CHICAGO (STMW) – A man who was alleged to have fired a gun on a Bridgeport neighborhood street late Saturday was apprehended by police not long afterward, but not before he led police on a pursuit that stretched more than 16 miles south, ending after he abandoned his car in the Far South Side Altgeld Gardens area.

About 11:39 p.m. police got a call from Norfolk Railroad Police, who witnessed shots fired near train tracks at 31st and Canal streets, police said. They provided a description of the alleged shooter’s vehicle, a black Chevrolet Impala, to Chicago police.

Officers from the Deering District responded and located the wanted vehicle near 31st and Wentworth, police said. The driver of the Impala refused to stop and a pursuit began. The pursuit ended a short time later at 131st Street and Indiana Avenue, where the driver, 42-year-old Allen Tate, abandoned the car and ran off, police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said. The car may have sustained a flat tire at 131st Street, Perez said.

Tate, who according to a police report is 5-feet-7-inches tall and 275 pounds, then tried to get away from police by running up an embankment, but officers pursuing him on foot soon caught him.

As the officers were attempting to apprehend him, however, Tate struck one of the arresting officers with his hands and feet, police said.

Tate was treated and released for minor injuries at Roseland Hospital and two officers were treated and released for minor injuries at an area hospital, according to Perez.

Tate, of the 7400 block of South South Shore Drive, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a police officer, felony aggravated fleeing & eluding, and misdemeanor resisting arrest, police said.

He was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Sunday. Bond information was not immediately available.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)